


Cold Eyes

by SamThePuppeteer



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fae, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Cats, F/M, Finally deserving that M rating, Lucio is back!, Orphan Lucio, Rating May Change, Tea, it probably will, prince asra
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2019-09-23 20:43:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 24
Words: 14,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17087408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamThePuppeteer/pseuds/SamThePuppeteer
Summary: A cocky prince and a sassy tea house owner, what could possibly go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

One month away; one month before we send another girl. A sacrifice some would say; others counter by saying a gift. Either way, they always got sent back. Every single girl. They would be there for a few days, then come back heartbroken. Every time. Some called the prince a stickler; others whispered about him already having a wife. Either way, the girls always came back.

This “ceremony“ of sorts happened once a year, every year. The villages around the “great city of Vesuvia” would send one tribute to try to win the prince’s heart. The only problem was that the prince hated it; every single part of the celebration he loathed. Everyone who watched could tell, it was quite obvious from the face of disgust he would wear whenever he stood in the arena.

Even though the elders in the villages knew that he picked no one, they still shamed the girls for not getting chosen. The nerves that they once contained were replaced by disappointment when they got back. There was a rule set in place after the first ceremony that each village could only send the same girl once, and this just escalated things. Girls would practice risky magic to artificially enhance themselves, sometimes to a point that they risked their lives. But everybody wanted a chance; a chance at wealthiness, a chance at fame.

The village started a list of potential candidates, 6 to be exact. These were the girls who fit the categories that Vesuvia was looking for. Female, ages 19 to 29, and taller than 5’5”. Most seemed quite obvious, but the last was a surprise to everyone. Why must there be a height requirement? Nobody really knew, but it was assumed to be the prince’s personal preference. Either way, it didn’t matter; every woman in the village met the height requirement.

Oh, how you wished that he chose a woman this year. You were currently 6th on the list, and were also loathing the idea of having to participate in the ceremony. Not only was the idea of having to deal with such a self-centered prince for the rest of your life unappealing, but you also owned a small tea house. To make matters worse, business at the tea house just started to boom. You did not want to throw away your business just because the prince though you were the most appealing.

According to your village, you were the last hope. The less appealing, personality much rough around the edges, and very unroyalty-like type of hope. If the girl from a village gets chosen, it would bring the village fame for centuries. It just happens to be that the last time the ceremony happened, maybe a few decades ago, a woman from your village was chosen. Because of this, the elders were keen on keeping their reputation and fame for themselves.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~

It was the late afternoon when you stepped out of your tea house to get some fresh air. After working all day surrounded by the steam and heat, the cool wind was a blessing. Sitting down on the steps, you watched as people passed by; all minding their own business and living their own lives. Then, there was the yearly rush.

Right around dusk, women would be running along the road carrying god knows what. Some held jewelry close to their hearts while others ran with fabric stacked in their arms. It was truly a sight to behold, and any newcomer to the village would question the sanity of the women here. They were simply starting to prepare for the ceremony, creating multiple dresses and outfits just in case the luck #5 was chosen. The first tribute was adorned with gold, the second with silver, and now the elders just used average metals to show off the women. It was no use though. They would never wear the outfits unless chosen, but the elders didn’t care; they were set to getting one of their girls chosen.

You stepped back into the tea house, beginning to prepare for the post-supper rush. Organizing teas, cleaning cups, doing practically everything possible to make every customer’s experience the best possible. After about an hour, a woman, a bit older but not to the point that magic was needed to keep her alive, walked in. Sitting down at the counter, she studied you intensely.

“I have a request for you, my dear __,”

she mentioned nonchalantly.

“I’m all ears miss,”

you responded, picking up your quill and parchment to take an order.

“I want you to join Esha in her journey to Vesuvia. See the prince in person, get to know what he likes from afar, so we can begin to prepare you early just in case Esha doesn’t go through,”

the woman stated, much more of a command then a request.

“I can see what I can do, but I am not going to go to Vesuvia merely to watch the ceremony. I want to see the city, experience the tea houses, and learn as much as I can about my job instead of that prince,”

you requested, quite harsh in tone.

“As you wish __, but you must report back to me after the ceremony. You will close the tea house for a week, so that you can explore Vesuvia more thoroughly,”

the lady explained, gesturing to the room with her open hands.

“I understand, when shall we depart?”

you questioned, mentally preparing yourself to hear the worst.

“Tomorrow morning. Is that enough time to close up shop and prepare for the journey? If not, you can always join us when Esha departs,”

she mentioned, smirking a bit towards the end. You had never gotten along well with the elders of the village, and she was no exception.

“That is more than enough time, I appreciate the heads up. If there isn’t anything more for us to discuss, I would like to pack up shop now,”

you stated, trying to cover up your frustration with the woman.

“Of course, I shall see you off tomorrow!”

She yelled while walking out of the shop.

“Good night my darling!”

She sang as she shut the door loudly.

“Well shit, what am I going to do?” You asked yourself as you finished the clean up you had started earlier.

“I guess there will be no post-supper rush tonight…” You said to yourself with a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2

As the sun rose, new doubts were brought up with them. ‘Was is truly necessary to go to Vesuvia? You could have just said no and live up to your reputation of being an unpleasant being. But no! You just had to say yes! Ah, you dumbass...’ You thought to yourself. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to go to Vesuvia, you just didn’t want to have any contact with the prince, even just walking by. The thought made you shiver a bit. Such an entitled person managed to get the whole land entranced with him, it was such a shame for those poor girls. But alas, you still had to go. If there was one thing the the village liked about you, it was that you kept your word. 

After packing up a small backpack with your most essential supplies, you trotted towards the village center. A large fountain stood before you with it’s life-size recreation of a horse and rider making it a bit over the top. Just a bit...a lot. The only place that had anything comparing to the fountain’s stature would be Vesuvia, but that was no surprise to you. While lost in thought, the woman from the night before called out your name.

“__! Hello, ___!” she called multiple times, slowly returning you to reality from your trance. 

“Ah, yes...hi,” you greeted, putting the most positive emotions you could into the phrase. You weren’t exactly delighted to see her, but what could be done. ‘It is what it is, I suppose,’ you thought to yourself. She ignored your less-than-ideal greeting and proceeded to tell you about the path to get to Vesuvia, which at the surface seemed quite simple. 

It was quite simple, just follow the main road and you will find Vesuvia eventually. The only problem was the roadblocks of thieves, carriages harboring unexperienced families, and every other thing imaginable. You felt like you were looking for the end of a rainbow, except the end was just a cliff to your doom. 

After walking for what felt like days, but in actuality was a mere 6 hours, you arrived to the gates. ‘God damn that’s big…’ you commented to yourself. The gates were open, expecting visitors and guests for the “big celebration”. 

After winding through streets trying to find the hostel the woman mentioned, you saw it. The tea shop. By god, it was magnificent! The aroma that floated through the air was spiced with cinnamon and lavender, so strong you felt like you could see it. After much (very little) deliberation, you stepped inside the shop. The smells only grew stronger as you entered. Teas of all kinds littered the shelves, each with a small name plate ornamented onto its jar. 

The owner, who you assumed to be an elderly woman, pranced up to you with a look of interest. 

“And what brings you to my humble tea shop, young sprout?”  She questioned with a warm smile. Her smile connected with the atmosphere of the shop brought your lips up into a grin.

“I am just looking. I own a tea shop in a neighboring village and was interested to see how one in Vesuvia would differ,” You replied, almost over the moon with the experience.

“Do you find anything different, young sprout?” The lady asked, invested in your wandering eyes.

“Do my surprise, I don’t. I guess tea is a universal thing,” You mentioned peacefully, releasing a sigh of happiness.

“While I would love to continue this beautiful conversation, I must pack up for the night. Would you mind coming back tomorrow young sprout?”

She inquired, silently hoping for a positive response.

“I would love to! If possible, would you be able to teach me a bit of your ways?”

You asked gladly while making your way out of the shop.

“That would be brilliant, young sprout. I shall see you tomorrow,”

The woman said with a small wave before shutting the door behind her. You looked up at the sky, surprised that the moon and stars were now out for all to behold. 

Without hesitation, you began to search for the hostel. After a long journey of a block and a half, you arrived to the small building. It was a warm brown wood house with small lights flickering from inside. “I guess this is it for now,” you whispered to yourself while opening the door to step inside.


	3. Chapter 3

The next few days went by like the breeze. You woke up early every morning, greeted the elderly woman, and worked at the tea house all day. It was pure bliss. You had completely forgotten about why you were in Vesuvia when a frantic looking woman sprinted to you. 

“__! I was looking for you everywhere! We have an emergency!”

The woman said loudly, almost yelling. You recognised her from the street in your village. She was the one who carried all the fabrics for the ceremony.

“What is this emergency?”

You asked, clearly exacerbated by the woman’s situation.

“When we were riding in the carriage here, we were attacked by  _ Bandits _ ! Bandits I tell you! Those stinking thieves! I managed to escape and I ran all the way here!”

She explained frantically, taking a breath between every few words.

“That’s not good, is everyone okay?”

You asked, genuinely concerned.

“Everyone is fine, but they must go back to the village to settle this,”

She stated while trying to even out her breath. Before you had the chance to reply, she ripped her hands from her knees to grasp your shoulders. She looked up with pleading eyes as she balanced herself on you.

“I have to ask a big favor of you. We need you to be the tribute for this year. With the previous ceremonies in mind, you will most likely not be picked. All you have to do is stand there and be yourself. He will surely not pick you given that we haven’t prepared you for it yet. What do you say, can you do it? Please do it __, please,”

The woman begged, still grasping onto your shoulders for dear life.

“If it is necessary, I can. What are the chances of getting picked, .0001% anyways?”

You replied, not thinking of the consequences of your actions. With your reply, the woman ran away yelling a “thank you” as she sprinted back the way she came. The ceremony was tomorrow and you just hoped that your bitter attitude would be enough of a turn off that you wouldn’t get picked. ‘Please, don’t let this be the end of my life,’ you thought to yourself, turning around and heading back to the hostel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have gotten the next few chapters written, so I will be updating daily! :)  
> Also, this chapter was a bit shorter, but there is a super long one coming up so hopefully it will balance out!


	4. Chapter 4

The morning sunlight pressed itself through the windows with the sole purpose of waking you in the most annoying way possible. Slowly sitting up, you realized that you fucked up. Big time. You would never be able to return to the village, mostly out of embarrassment. You would never be able to return to Vesuvia, also out of embarrassment. ‘Should I just become a hermit, living out my days peacefully in a cottage?’ you wondered to yourself jokingly. After coming up with every excuse in the book, you managed to convince yourself that being a hermit was not exactly the life you longed for. ‘Oh well, another opportunity wasted,’ you muttered under your breath. 

You needed to be at the palace by 1pm; and seeing that it was only 8am, you decided that a stop at the tea shop was well deserved. 

You pranced down the street, excited to see the elderly woman. She had never told you her name, but you assumed that was out of personal privacy rather than anything else. You walked right up to the shop doors, reaching out to open them; but you stopped. You hesitated. Why? You didn’t know. 

“Are you going to open the door, or are you just admiring it’s woodwork?” A mysterious voice questioned. You turned around, ready to sucker-punch this person when you saw an objectively handsome man standing behind you.

There was one problem with this man, you hated people who were good-looking. You weren’t sure why, but you always got quite rude around them. Hiding your feelings of amazement? Maybe, but you still couldn’t break the habit. Oh well…

“I may be, why does it matter to you?” You questioned, staring blankly. Although you had always been told that your resting bitch face was never a good thing, it came in handy in these situations.

“Yes, it does. I am merely trying to go inside yet  _ someone _ is being quite rude and blocking my way,” he scoffed, slightly smirking at his “brilliant” response.

“Oh well, I guess my moments of peace are up,” you stated, opening the door and promptly closing it after you stepped inside; just right before the man managed to step inside with you. He begrudgingly opened the door and gave you a nasty stare as you stuck out your tongue jokingly.

“Oh my! ___, how are you today? You look quite upbeat! Oh, and who is this? Your” she stated while wagging her eyebrows, “ _ boyfriend _ ?”

“I would rather be dead than that.” You replied blankly, groaning at the annoyance. 

“I’ll start blending some of the teas,” you muttered, walking to the back of the shop.

After you secluded yourself, you huffed. ‘Just why do people have to be that rude? A simple excuse me would have sufficed, but NO! He just had to get on my bad side. Damn, I hope I never have to see that poor sucker again. If I do, he is getting a solid knock in the face!’ you thought to yourself while pacing. ‘He is really going to get it, I swear. The moment I see him, decking him in the face! I don’t care if he’s just a beggar or the prince, he is getting it!’ you huffed to yourself, settling to just start mixing teas rather than complaining about some random stranger that you would probably never see again.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, I'm so sorry I didn't update yesterday! I didn't realize that it was Christmas so I was busy for most of the day, oops! There will be a double update tomorrow ;)


	5. Chapter 5

The morning went by so quickly that you felt like you had just gotten there. With the stranger long gone from your mind, you dragged your feet out of the store. You had explained your position to the elderly woman, and she nodded understandingly. 

“I wish you luck! Put on your nastiest expression and don’t take any names!” she called as you exited the building. You rolled your eyes and quickly flexed your arm muscles to give yourself the needed confidence boost. 

The walk to the palace seemed too short, for you wished that you would never arrive. 

“Damn, I’m here already? Well, let’s get this over with…” you mumbled to yourself while walking through the gates.

As you stepped in, you were bombarded by what looked like a bunch of maids. They all asked for your name, age, where you were from, etc; all while looking you up and down and mentally taking measurements. You replied in the nicest way possible, putting on your best fake smile. Some of them commented on your state of dress since it was much simpler than what most girls arrived in. It wouldn’t matter anyways, you weren’t going to wear these clothes even if they were plated in gold. 

The maids ushered you around the palace, stopping every once in a while to grab something. The next thing you knew, you were in a bathing room with a bunch of other girls. They all looked quite similar, most likely magically altered to fit their perceived vision of what the prince liked. 

After undressing you and forcing you into the large bath, they proceeded to wash your hair with soaps that smelled of lavender and lemon. All of the other girls scoffed and chattered to themselves, occasionally glancing at you only to turn back to their no doubt meaningless conversations.

Another hour passed by quite similarly, with the maids trying to make you as pristine as the other girls in the room. Finally, it was time to have the girls seen to their quarters to get the final preparations. While some sashayed around in their nudity before succumbing to the warmth of a robe, others quickly wrapped themselves up, wary to keep their bodies out of site from everyone else. You chose neither and just walked over to the robe offered by the maids and put it on, just like any objectively normal person would do. 

All the girls and their set of three maids shuffled out of the room as the maids led them to their doors. Many of them continuing their loud conversations with each other as they got pulled apart into separate rooms. As your maid, a lovely young girl with bright green doe eyes and long black hair led you to your room, she didn’t even bother starting a conversation, much to your liking. 

She sat you down at a chair in front of what seemed to be an oversized dresser with a mirror placed on top and proceeded to roughly brush your hair. While combing through the long locks, she would meet your eyes in the mirror every once in a while, sharing a look of exasperation and pity. 

“It must suck, having to do this. I couldn’t imagine the effort the villages put into these poor girls, just to get rejected…” she casually mentioned. If you had the ability to nod, you would do so eagerly. 

“I agree, I was the last viable choice for my village, and I would much rather not be here,” you added, shooting her a look of understanding. The conversation quickly stopped as the other two maids walked in, holding multiple different pair of undergarments. Some were quite gaudy, others almost not there, and some that seemed to be not too revealing. 

This was the part that you hated about the ceremony; the fact that you were paraded around like some livestock for sale to the highest bidder. You had heard multiple stories of girls being sent back to their villages by refusing to wear little to nothing in front of such an audience, and you were tempted to try to fake that just to avoid this  circumstance. You couldn’t though, you promised; and you were not one to break promises. 

The lingerie laid out for you was all different styles; from skimpy to overcovering, there was a whole selection. You had chosen something simple yet covering, something that hopefully wouldn’t draw too much attention to you. It was white, and while putting it on you found it was quite soft. The bra hugged your chest perfectly, not pushing anything up but not sagging with the weight of gravity. It was decent, and that was all you hoped for. 

After a few minutes of making sure that everything was perfect, the maids helped you back into your robe and walked you out to a carriage that would take you to the coliseum. It was a quick journey, but overall bumpy and less than pleasant. 

You entered the coliseum from a back entrance, meeting up with all the other girls who stood nervously awaiting instructions. 

“Alright ladies, here is the plan. You will form a single file line, any order is acceptable, and when I give the call, you will walk out to where the Xs are and stand facing away from the audience. You will remove your shoes and place them in front of you. Then, stand patiently and wait for the ceremony to commence. Got it?” A woman called out loudly, looking over the 20 girls. Everyone replied with either a nod or a yes and started to move into a line. Most girls were aiming to get out first, so you were pushed to the back of the line; not that you cared, less time you had to spend outside like cattle. 

With the call of “Ladies!” by the woman, all the girls pranced out over-enthusiastically. They managed to space themselves out, but some ended up tripping over their own feet. Most of those girls just happened to be wearing heels. Not a good idea.

As you stepped out of the small room into the waning sunshine, you remembered the tea house owner’s advice. You straightened your back and proceeded to look as pissed off as possible. 

You removed your shoes once you got the the chalk-drawn X on the ground and proceeded to stand with your best pissed-off face. Leaning to one side with your hand on your hip, you looked the least like all the other girls out there. Almost all of them were standing up straight, smiling their biggest smile, and occasionally waving at the crowds of fans. Some of them would push their chests up, which was amazing because the magic used on them made it seem like they were floating anyways. 

As the sun began to set, the crowd started to cheer loudly for the incoming royal family. First the “analyzers”, then the king and queen, and lastly the prince.

‘WHAT THE FUCK?’ you yelled loudly into your head, you face shifting from death stares to utter surprise.

There he was, the annoying dude from the tea shop.

‘I SWEAR TO GOD WHAT ARE THE ODDS. God now I hope I get picked just so I can deck him and run!’ you joked to yourself as you rolled your eyes, forcibly shifting your  face back to the same expression you donned earlier. This was going to be some night, some night indeed.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooh, things are starting to get going ;p


	6. Chapter 6

As the prince scanned the “subjects” quickly, not bothering to look for too long, the girls proceeded to stand up straighter in a futile attempt to look more attractive. As his eyes reached the end of the line, he met yours for what felt longer than usual. Giving a slight cocky smirk, he proceeded to look away and sit down in his over-hyped chair. 

You refused to look in his direction, but you still felt the pair of eyes staring at you. It was slightly concerning, but you ignored it. After looking around at all the people in the audience to try to accomplish something similar to scaring everyone, you decided to just stare at a random pillar off in the distance. 

What seemed like hours or advisors analyzing every inch of every girls body, the proceeded to walk back to the balcony-like terrace and began to chat about their findings. After a few minutes of what looked like intense deliberation among older men, one of them walked over to the prince and whispered into his ear. 

You silently wished that you could read lips just to know what they were saying, but you were also relieved that you didn’t know just what conversations were taking place at the moment. 

The whispering went on for a few more moments until the prince turned his head, staring at you straight in the eye while doing a slight head nod. 

‘God FUCKING damnit, this ain’t happening. I swear to the gods above, if I get chosen I will curse all of you to oblivion, don’t try me world!’ You mentally cursed to yourself, frustration evident on your face.

The advisor proceeded to walk to the king and queen, supposedly to tell them the results of this horrible ceremony. After a moment, the king and queens faces lit up in shock and quickly turned to look at you. You turned your head away, letting your vision land on that poor crumbling pillar in an attempt to ignore the situation at hand.

“Attention citizens of Vesuvia,” a loud announcer yelled out, “A decision has been made. Unlike the prior celebrations, there will be a lucky woman today!” The crowd proceeded to look frantically to each other and whisper their bets on who it will be.

“The lucky lady will be” the announcer called out, shutting up the audience into a deathly silence. In that moment, it felt like the air was still, the earth stopped rotating, everything was motionless except for your beating heart. You silently prayed to any god up above that you were not chosen. You had too much going for you that you couldn’t just abandon. What would your cafe become? Would it wither away like those before you? Would someone else take it on in hopes of prosperity? You didn’t know, but in the next moment you knew that your life was not yours anymore.

“Miss ___! You have been chosen, congratulations!” The announcer yelled as the crowd uproared in chars and loud conversations. Some seemed to be exchanging money, as though they took bets on you.

You looked straight ahead to the prince, who stared at you with that same cocky smirk that he donned in front of the tea house.

‘Well, fuck.’

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is short, woops...


	7. Chapter 7

When you got back to the former waiting area with the rest of the girls, you could easily feel the eyes of death and jealousy stinging the back of your head with the force of 1,000 suns. You groaned and rolled your eyes, oblivious to the fact that almost everyone in the room was staring at you and not just the girls. 

After a few moments, the same announcer from earlier quickly shook her head from her daze and called out to the girls. 

“Okay, girls! Head back to your chambers!” she called, seemingly shaking everyone else from their similar daze. As you passed by the girls, you could hear the chatter of insults and questions to each other as they stared at you. You quickly shrugged it off as you decided to focus on the problem at hand; how the hell were you going to escape this?

A simple ‘no’ would have saved you from all this trouble, and soon the village will hear about your “victory” and become suspicious when you returned. 

‘Argh, so irritating!’ you thought to yourself as you scrunched up your nose in frustration.

The carriage ride back to the palace felt much too short since you barely had time to even think of a plan. ‘Out of all the people in the world, why did I have to be chosen?’ you wondered to yourself as you plopped onto the bed in the chamber.

A moment later, a quick knock came to the door. You stood up, preparing for the worst as you slowly opened the door to reveal the same servant from earlier who brushed your hair. 

“Oh, hello. Come on in,” you stuttered out, mentally thanking the gods. 

“No need, I only have a message to deliver,” she said as she handed you a letter. “If there is nothing else, I will be making my way now,” she quickly said as she scrambled away. Her reaction to you was odd, but you quickly turned your mind away from it to focus on the mysterious letter.

It was a plain white envelope with no writing on it, no wax seal, or anything to indicate where it came from. It was a small letter, smaller than usual at least. As you slipped open the folded tab, a scent of tea leaves seeped out like fog. Although it smelled delectable, you quickly grew confused at the odd smell. If it was a package of some sorts, you could understand, but a letter?

You looked inside, but the only thing it contained was a slip of paper, seemingly folded into quarters. You picked the paper out of it’s plain packaging and opened it. There was  only one thing written on the paper as tea leaves slipped out and onto the floor, making a mess of the carpet underneath your feet. 

‘I’ll see you later, tea girl~ ;)’

  
  



	8. Chapter 8

Blues, pinks, reds, and greens colored your vision as you strolled through the palace gardens. You wandered aimlessly through the mazes of floral scents and sights, simply enjoying the serenity and simplicity of nature. It had been a while when you could just relax and not worry about much. 

Although it was calming and certainly pleasant, your mind felt like the calm before the storm. You wondered about the cafe, about your plants, and mostly about your cat Mimi. She was a small black cat whose eyes shined like the harvest moon. In your years of loneliness building up your knowledge about tea, she would snuggle up to you and purr in your lap. That was true happiness.

As you woke up from your daydreams about your cat, you had realized that you were sitting on the edge of a fountain. It was too extravagant in your opinion, but you had heard that the king and queen liked extravagant so you were not surprised. 

A small breeze flew by as it rattled the emerald leaves and the rosy petals. You turned your head to the direction of where the breeze came from and saw him. Standing there in all his cocky glory, the prince. His tanned skin contrasted the fluffy white hair atop his head in a way that reminded you of the hot sun over a desert. He stared at you in wonder, surprised that you were in the garden. 

“You seem to have found my spot, tea girl,” he commented, smirking at the apparent flush on your face. For as much as he was a complete dick, he  _ was _ quite handsome. 

“It’s nice, anyone would enjoy to sit here and bask in the sun,” you replied whimsically, smiling a bit as you looked up at the sky. The sun was slowly setting behind you, causing the world around you to have a warm tone. When you turned your attention back to the ground, you had found the prince sitting next to you looking into the water of the fountain. 

“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself as of yet,” he mentioned softly, not taking his eyes off of the crystal water.

“I’m Asra, prince of Vesuvia. I know your name, but who are you?” he questioned you, looking up from the water and into your eyes.

“I don’t understand your question,” you replied with a quizzical look on your face. 

“Well, what do you do, what are your hobbies, who are you outside of just a name?” he asked, hoping to clarify the original question.

“Oh, asking that now are you,” you replied snarkily, chuckling a bit. 

“I’m ___, I own a tea house back in my village with my cat Mimi. Ahh, she’s such a beautiful cat,” you mentioned as you looked off into the distance.

“You can bring her here if you would like. I wouldn’t mind a cat hanging around, as long as it doesn’t enjoy eating snakes,” he offered, smiling slightly.

“Oh no need, I don’t plan on staying,” you replied, focusing back on his eyes.

“And what do you mean by that?” he asked, confused by your statement.

“I have too much going for me at home, I can’t possibly give that up. Although it was very nice to meet you Asra, I think it is time for me to go now. If you would excuse me,” you stated as you stood up.

“I hate to say this, but you can’t. You’re stuck here, whether you like it or not,” he called out, shrugging slightly when you turned around, frustration and anger apparent on your face. 

“What do you mean by that?” You gritted out as you stared daggers into his eyes.

“I’ve chosen you, it would be illegal for you to leave now,” he stated, shrugging again as he stood up and walked towards you. You looked at him as if he told you that he killed your cat, but then quickly turned around and quickly walked back into the maze.

‘This  _ cannot _ be happening. No, no, no, no, no,’ you thought to yourself as you continued to wander the maze, not realizing that you were lost.


	9. Chapter 9

As the sun finished it’s final attempt at setting, you started to worry about just where you were. It was beginning to get dark and you seemed to have no clue about where you were, which was objectively quite worrisome. You walked throughout this maze, turning around at every dead end and trying to memorize what paths you had taken. As the world got darker, so did your hope of getting out of this mess. 

“I swear I really am going to be stuck here forever, not because it’s illegal but because I can’t get out of this fucking maze!” you groaned to yourself in frustration, throwing up your arms as you looked up to the sky. 

“Seems to be that you’re in a bit of a predicament, tea girl~” a familiar voice called out. You whipped your body around towards the source of the voice, only to see the tall man from earlier leaning against a bush casually.

“I could show you the way out of here, if you want~” he teased, making fun of your obvious frustration in your situation.

“I’m perfectly fine right now, just enjoying the evening breeze. No need for your help,” you replied, turning around and walking the opposite direction, only for you to realize that it was straight into a dead end. You spun around and marched past Asra furiously, embarrassed by your small mistake. As you passed Asra, you could hear a bright chuckle coming from the man as you followed you with his eyes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After what felt like a few more hours, you managed to exit the maze. With the moon full in the sky, you walked out of the tall bushes only to see the fountain. Sitting on the edge of the fountain was Asra, illuminated by the bright white light of the moon.

“You managed to exit that pretty quickly actually, most take at least the whole night,” he stated with a small look of surprise on his face. Or was it satisfaction? You had no idea.

“No thanks to you,” you retorted, strolling right past him and back into the palace.

“I did offer~” he called back, not bothering to turn around but instead tilt his head back, letting his white hair fall back a bit.

“I did offer…” he mumbled to himself, pouting a bit as he decided to follow you back inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You haven’t eaten dinner, right? We should stop by the kitchen,” he called out from behind you as you stormed throughout the long hallways.

“No thank you, I’m not hungry. I’ll stop by later on my own,” you replied, trying to walk fast enough to lose the man who was quickly catching up to you. Although that was what you said, a particularly loud stomach growl quickly rebutted your point. You stopped for a second, looking down and attempting to hush your stomach into submission.

Not a second later you felt a hand on your shoulder.

“I think your stomach knows you more than your mouth~” he laughed out, picking his hand up from your shoulder. You tried to give him your best pissed off face, but another growl from your stomach proceeded to interrupt your brooding, causing you to lightly giggle. You quickly recovered your earlier expression, and turned around to Asra.

“I guess food would not be the worst…” you mumbled, looking down at your insistent stomach. Immediately afterwards, Asra let out a loud laugh as he bent down to look you in the eyes. His eyes searched yours, like they were analyzing every color built into them.

“As you wish, tea girl~” he playfully said before turning around and leading the way towards the kitchen.


	10. Chapter 10

You hadn’t realized just how hungry you were until you smelled the fresh bread from outside the kitchen. Even though your nose was keen to teas, you could still smell the difference between the sweet breads and the savory. 

You had felt the small change in air flow passing by you as you realized you were standing still, in the middle of the hallway, eyes closed, just smelling the air. You looked ahead of you to see that white hair breezing by like it had a mind of its own. 

Lightly jogging to catch up to the man ahead, you looked around you. The hallway was littered with painting of all sizes and subjects; some with portraits and others with scenery. The walls were a navy blue wallpaper that contrasted with the dark wooden floors. It reminded you of home, which caused you to smile a bit. 

“Enjoying the sights?” Asra questioned, turning around to look at you.

“Yeah, the floors are really beautiful,” you replied with full honesty.

“Uhh, okay, yeah they are pretty cool,” he responded, slightly confused at your answer. Turning back around, he stepped through a doorway to the kitchen. Right behind the doorway was a set of stairs that you failed to notice.

As you stepped through, expecting there to be floor underneath your feet, you managed to completely trip over yourself and send yourself flying towards the floor. As you closed your eyes tightly after releasing a small squeal of surprise, you felt arms tightly around your body. 

You slowly opened your eyes, only to see Asra’s face a few centimeters from your own.

“Careful, stairs right there,” he commented, grinning slightly at your clumsiness. You blinked a few times before fully coming to the realization that you were still in his arms, staring at him for god knows how long. 

Chuckling awkwardly as you pushed yourself upright as you willed the slight flush off of your cheeks, you mumbled something along the lines of a “Sure thing,” but it was barely intelligible. 

As you faced away from Asra to try to collect yourself (especially your rapidly racing heart), you heard a faint laugh coming from the man behind you. When you turned around to confront him, you could only see bread. 

Held out in front of your eyes was a small loaf of bread, just enough for one person. You took the bread and saw one of the funniest sights.

Asra stood there, whole loaf of bread sticking out of his mouth like he intended to eat it in one go but realized that he couldn’t when it was too late. His eyes turned to genuine confusion when you started to laugh at him. He intended to reply, but there was too much bread in his mouth, causing his intended words to come out as muffled. With this discovery of his, he joined in on the laughter; bread still hanging from his mouth.

After a few seconds, you had both calmed down from your apparent laughter attack only to look back up into eachothers eyes. You had stared for a few seconds until you quickly turned away and ran off, yelling a quick “Thanks for the food, Bread Boy~” back to Asra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year to you all! May your wishes and hopes come true!


	11. Chapter 11

As you found your previous chambers surprisingly easy, you hurled yourself into the room as you quickly yet quietly closed the door.

‘What the fuck heart, stop! Oh my god, no, heart! You better stop beating so fast!’ you mentally cursed to your heart as you tried to will the spreading blush off of your face. This was not what you wanted to be doing at the castle. 

‘You should be planning your escape, but instead you’re leaning against the door like a bumbling idiot. Great,’ you mentally criticized yourself, lifting yourself from the door and onto the bed. 

As you looked around the room, it was much different than the hallways you zig-zagged around. The walls were mostly empty, save for a few paintings of forest scenes and such. The walls were a dusty pink wallpaper that matched the same dark wood flooring from just outside. If you had designed this room, you would be damn proud of yourself.

You continued to graze your eyes across the large expanse of walls and surrounding furniture when a pair of clothes caught your eye. You stood up, making your way over the the wooden dresser that they laid upon. On top of the apparent silk clothes was a note that read,

‘Dear ___,

We are so glad that you are staying with us. Although we understand that you most likely had a separate life at your home that you miss, we implore you to stay with us. It is important to us that Prince Asra gets to choose who he decides to be with rather than us set it up for him. This tradition has been going on for many a generation, as you may already know. 

For now at least, please stay with him here. If that is impossible, we can arrange for you to go back to your village for a while, but that would not be preferred. 

We have sent a messenger to your village to tell the news, so your clothes and other personal belongings should be arriving soon. For now, though, please accept this gift from us. We will bring by some other clothing in the morning that would better suit the public view.

Thank you so much for being here with our dear Asra,

The King and Queen’

As you read through the note, you had realized just how important your presence was to the whole city of Vesuvia and to the neighboring villages. You represented something that was lost for a long time, hope for the future.

You had heard the elders back in your village talk of it, the chance that Prince Asra would decide not to have someone around him. That stirred great worry throughout the elders as they questioned the future for the small empire.

As you moved the note aside, you saw the silk clothing neatly folded underneath. It was a dark purple that shimmered under the candlelit room. As you picked up the cloth, you realized that it was a nightgown. 

After putting the nightgown on, you walked over to the full length mirror adjacent to the what looked to be queen sized bed. As you looked at your figure in the mirror, you mentally complimented how the dress hugged your figure almost perfectly. It reached slightly below the knee and was mostly a straight cut. The v-neck collar of the dress reached up and around your shoulders with small pieces of silk to keep the dress up.

As you turned around, the dress slightly opened up then back down, creating the effect of a billowing curtain. It was a nice dress indeed, but you just loved it. You had never owned something of such quality, much less silk.

As you got over your initial awe over the seamwork, you decided it was time to go to sleep. Turning your body towards the rather large bed, you immediately felt a wave of exhaustion hit you. This coupled with the already present sleepiness pushed you over to the bed as you slipped between the sheets, relishing in the warmth they provided.

As you closed your eyes, you slowly slipped into the realm of dreams, the previous world of reality washing away with the tidal waves of sleep.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I haven't updated recently! I've been pretty busy with life and so I haven't had as much time to write...  
> Since school and work are starting up again quite soon for me, I will be only posting at most 3 times a week. I'm sorry for the delays, but I don't want to overwork myself too much, you know?  
> Other than that, happy 2019 everybody!


	12. Chapter 12

You woke up the next morning before sunrise, just like you used to at home. It was practically required to be up early to prepare the shop for a busy morning as people stopped by before leaving to work on whatever they desire. Sitting up and leaning against the headboard that felt distinctively different from the one you had at home, you quickly realized that you were in fact not at home. 

The rush of nervousness and uneasiness to your surroundings came and went as quickly as a gust of wind. Once you remembered your situation, you groaned at the realization that for now you were indeed stuck here.

You stood up from the bed, your nightgown flowing behind you like one would see in the movies, and walked over to the window. From your untrained eyes, you could speculate that it was around 5:30 am, perfect time for eating breakfast and getting ready for your objectively annoying day.

The clothing that was promised in the note from the night before was sitting atop your dresser, similarly to how the night gown was. After close analysis of the clothing, making sure that you would not be wearing something completely absurd or of that fashion, you tried the clothes on.

It was a creme colored skirt (made out of a material that you had never seen before) and a white loose-fitted top with billowing sleeves that bunched up around your wrists. It was quite beautiful, and surprisingly your size and style. Next to the spot where the clothes were are a pair of shoes. They were black leather shoes with a slight heel, but not enough to severely disturb your steps. 

After putting on your clothes for the day, you quietly left your room, careful not to wake what seemed to be a slumbering household. Walking down the hallway, you couldn’t stop the slight flinch at the rather small sound that the heels made every step. In your normal shoes you were as silent as a black cat, but now you felt like an elephant walking through a library. 

Finally making it to the courtyard, you saw the slowly rising sun just start to make its way over the horizon. The sky was dusted with a light pink and yellow that continued to get brighter with every second. It was similar to the sunsets that you would see in paintings. 

After walking around for a bit, you found the familiar oversized fountain. Due to the sunset being in its peak, the water glowed a faint orange color. As you sat down on the edge, you gently ran your hand through the water. It was cold, but not as cold as you would expect from water that had been out all night and was experiencing its first taste of sunlight.

Looking around at your surroundings, you saw a familiar man leaning against a pillar. He was looking in your direction, but it didn’t seem like he was looking straight at you. You tilted your head a bit in confusion as to how and when he got there, and with that slight movement he shifted his eyes just a tad to look straight into your soul.

You gave an awkward smile and shifted your eyes away from his, staring directly into what looked like about half of the rising sun. Due to the bombardment of light given off by the sun, you immediately looked away and closed your eyes tightly in hopes that your vision would return to normal. When you did this, you heard a distinctive laugh coming from the direction of the prince.

“Generally, it’s not a good idea to look straight into the sun,” he commented while walking towards you.

You froze immediately when you opened your eyes. The faint glow of the orange sunset illuminated his tanned skin in a way that made it seem like it was sparkling. His hair was still in its usual messy state, but additionally reflected the remaining sunset. He looked just like the glowing water in the fountain.

“Enjoying the sunset? Or are you enjoying another view?” he questioned snarkily, bestowing his usual grin to all.

“Uh,” you mumbled, “neither?” you finally replied, slightly lifting your tone at the end of the word to make it seem like a question.

“Okay then,” he stated before sitting next to you.

For some odd reason, you felt your heart pound just a bit louder than before.

‘It’s probably just the warm sun waking my heart up’ you convinced yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while, I forgot how much time school and work actually takes. I will probably only be able to update once a week for the next little while... I'm sorry about that!


	13. Chapter 13

The morning went by as blandly as your breakfast.

‘Does anyone know how to use spices here?’ you questioned to yourself, secretly disappointed in the variety in flavor provided by the “top class” chefs. You were bound to find something imperfect about the castle eventually, but you had not expected the food to be the culprit. 

With your renewed sense of solidarity and drive, you decided to set out to town to find some spices. Even if it would be a small insult to the chefs, it was necessary for everyone in the castle to at least know the unique flavor of cinnamon or saffron. 

You surprisingly found no trouble in leaving the castle, the guards slightly bowing to you as you left the gates. They probably had never expected that anyone in your situation would legitimately think of leaving, much less running away. 

As you walked the streets of the city, you saw people whisper and point to you as you passed. It was an odd feeling, but not one you were new to. Back in your old village,  people would point and whisper all the time. They would question your sanity, whether you poisoned your teas, or what you were thinking by wasting your life away working. It never bothered you nonetheless, mostly because of your insistent passion to your work.

Your work that you would never return to.

After that realization, you turned the corner quickly to cover yourself from the busy streets. You had found yourself in an alley, quite dark but not dismal. It just looked sad. As you sat down against the adjacent wall, you wondered if escaping was even worth it. Even if you did manage to go back home, you would be sent right back by practically everyone in the village. The only exception might be your beautiful Mimi, only because she would be shoved in your arms as you were swatted away from the village. 

With all of the sudden realizations of your situation, you leaned your head against the wall and looked up through the buildings to the sky. It was a midday blue and sparkled like the water in the fountain.

“___, what are you doing here?” a voice asked. You immediately turned your head only to see the elderly lady from the tea shop. 

“Oh, me? I’m just...thinking,” you replied as your eyes proceeded to stare blankly at nothing.

“Well, if that is the case, why don’t you come down to the shop and think a bit down there? I still haven’t paid you back for all the work you did before,” she offered, hoping for a positive response.

Without further thought, you replied a quick “sure,” as you stood up and made your way to the tea house with the elderly woman.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I have gotten some inspiration for this story, so I should be updating more oftern depending on my school schedule!


	14. Chapter 14

The tea set in front of you smelled splendid. Fresh mint, camomile, and rose wafted into the air surrounding you, covering you in a barrier of serenity. You closed your eyes as you took in the scents; it reminded you of home.   
“So, tell me ___, what has been on your mind?” the woman questioned.  
“I don’t know what to do. I had such a good life at home, but now I can’t return. Well, I could, but I would be sent back in a heartbeat,” you replied, sighing at the end. You had essentially given up at this point, not bothering to consider any other possibilities of finding happiness.  
“And what did you do in this past life?” the woman asked, slightly more interested in your answer than before.  
“I owned a tea house, quite similar to this one actually. It was me and my darling cat Mimi, on our own, making the best out of everything we had. I had a garden in the back where I grew the herbs and teas, and in the front I had a garden where I grew flowers. It was pure bliss,” you answered, smiling slightly at your recollection of your past life.   
“If you don’t mind, I could use some help around here. I wouldn’t need to give you pay,” she chuckled a bit, “but I could give you a taste of home. Of course, only if you are willing,” she mentioned.  
“I would love that actually,” you quickly replied, excited at the chance of familiarity.   
You continued your conversation with the woman when suddenly you wondered something.   
“By the way, I never got your name,” you casually mentioned.  
“Oh, silly me! I’m Esther, but you can call me Es if you would like,” she replied, slightly chuckling at your sudden interest.  
You had continued your previous conversation with Es for the next few hours, stopping to refill the leaves or water of your pot every once and awhile. Before you knew it, it was night. After a quick “goodbye” and “see you tomorrow,” you departed the tea house and headed back to the palace.   
The walk felt much shorter than before as the palace fell into view a mere minutes since your departure. It felt odd, walking into a palace like your home. You were used to the strong smell of wood and tea whenever you entered your home, greeting you with it’s mesmerizing aroma and warm feel. But this was different. You felt no different as you walked through the gates.   
Although this place was now your house, it was not your home as of yet; far from it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, me posting early?! Crazy!  
> I'm going to try (emphasis on try) to post more often, but no guarantees!


	15. Chapter 15

The next few months went by quite similarly. Waking up early every morning to the chirping birds and the rising sun, sitting by the fountain with Asra, going to the tea house to find some familiarity in your environment, going home right before dinner, eating with Asra or with the whole “royal family”, then taking a night walk and going to sleep. Quite a simple schedule.

One day though, you had heard that your personal belongings were coming in. After jumping up and down a for a few moments, you straightened yourself out and quickly walked (ran like a mad woman) down the stairs to the gates.

Seeing the carriage arrive only made your heart beat even faster, your blood pump quicker, and your mind go a bit dizzy. Who knew that a sense of home could do that to a person.

As the coach opened the doors to the carriage, you saw a somewhat familiar woman step out and run up to you, arms spread out wide. Although it was a welcoming sight,  you quickly dove under her arms and sprinted to the carriage, possibly yelling “Mimi,” as loud as you could. The following “meow” almost made you break into tears. 

You had missed her so much, and now that she was here, it felt like home. 

The woman from earlier turned around and stared at you with disapproving eyes due to your sly avoidance of her embrace. After shaking her head a bit, she walked back over to the carriage and tapped your shoulder.

“I bet you really appreciate my suggestion to come to Vesuvia with Esha,” she stated, wiggling her eyebrows.

“So,” she leaned towards my ear, trying to be as quiet as she possibly could. “How’s the prince? Is he nice? Is he as handsome as everyone says he is? Oh, goodness tell me everything,” she exclaimed, practically screeching into your right ear.

You quickly stepped back from her, hearing a slight ringing in your ear. You could tell that Mimi was giving you a knowing look, and you inwardly sighed in content at her presence.

“I wouldn’t know, I spend most of my time in a local tea house,” you commented, smirking at the face of despair present on the woman’s face.

“A-a tea house?! Why were you there rather than spending special time with the dear prince?! How lonely he must be, oh!” she exclaimed, acting as if she was to faint.

“Well, he stops by the shop pretty regularly. I also bump into him once in a while…” you mentioned, somehow feeling a bit embarrassed by her sudden exclamation.

“Oh my- just wow- how-how could you throw away such an opportunity?!” she yelled, throwing her arms up in the air out of frustration.

“You really should have not been chosen for this, you are much to ungrateful…” she mumbled to herself.

“I don’t consider myself to be ungrateful, I merely didn’t pick this fate for my-”

“I will not hear another word from you! Get in the carriage, you are going home and I am sending someone who actually wants to be he-”

“No need miss, she is just fine where she is,” a voice said from the side. As you shifted your gaze over to the direction of the voice, you saw Asra leaning against the gate, smirking at your apparent surprise.

“Oh, my! Hello my dear prince! How are you on this lovely day! Oh my goodness, did I offend you at all? I merely meant that you should not have to put up with such an ungrateful girl in your position,” the woman exclaimed again after shifting her entire body and adjusting her voice to one very different from earlier.

“No need, ma’am. She is just fine here. Now if you would excuse us, I will start helping bring in some of her belongings,” he stated proudly, walking over to pick up a rather large wool bag. 

The angry woman just stared in disbelief at the prince and his behavior. Although she was shut down twice now, she continued to try to bargain another girl that she believed  “suited him better”. Every time she would open her mouth to say something else, he would roll his eyes and prepare his next statement.

To both his and your dismay, this went on for well over an hour. Finally, when everything had been moved to the opening corridor of the palace, Asra tried to get the final say by wishing the woman goodbye. She wouldn’t give up though.

As she was pushed out of the corridor by the guards, she continued to yell that you were not worth his time and that they had “much better girls” back in the same village.

As the door shut, both you and Asra looked at eachother knowingly. His eyes shifted back and forth from your eyes and Mimi’s when finally after a few moments, he broke out into laughter.

You stood there, dumbfounded at his behavior as you could not find anything funny about the situation at hand. After realizing that you were in fact not laughing, he worked to suppress his laughter and straighten up his behavior.

“Is *that* really where you come from? How the hell does a person become like that? Oh my god, I was about to punch her damn,” he stated, trying to suppress his laughter.

With his statement, you looked his in the eyes and immediately started to laugh.

“God, I know right? There was a reason that I tried to avoid everyone there,” you replied, laughing just as hard as him.

Your conversation continued quite similarly for the next few minutes before you both agreed that it was time to move your things upstairs. Of course, this didn’t go exactly to plan due to your frequent breaks to try to get rid of your laughing fits.

Maybe he wasn’t as bad of a person as you initially thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I just got back frim Disney Land, and boy howdy did I get inspired!   
> Hopefully, I will be able to post a bit more often due to the sheer volume of chapters I've written recently.  
> Look forwards to it!


	16. Chapter 16

Following the “incident” that occurred that day, your morning “hangout” with Asra started to get longer and longer due to the quite interesting conversations you would partake in.

“So, you’re saying that you’ve never seen the sea before?” Asra questioned, disbelief written all over his face.

“Well, I guess...yeah. I’ve lived in a “foresty area” for my whole life so seas weren’t really a big thing,” you replied, shrugging. When you looked at him after your statement, he threw his hand over his forehead in an exaggerated manner to try to feign heartbreak or something of the like. You went silent after that, trying desperately not to give into the urge to bust out laughing. After a second or two, he peeked one eye open to look at you worriedly. At this, you broke down into laughter against your will. 

“Oh goodness, I was worried you had disappeared for a moment,” he mentioned exasperatedly.

“And why would I do that?” You questioned, intrigued by his remark.

“Oh, I’ve talked to Esther about you before. I usually get my teas there, so hearing that you spend your days there gave me more of a reason to visit often. Well, anyways, she  told me about how you really didn’t want to be here for a while. I got so worried that you were actually going to leave that I asked her to give you a job at the tea house to maybe give you a reason to stay. She then told me that you were already working there and that even if you were planning to leave the palace she would try to convince you to stay in Vesuvia with her,” he explained a bit guiltily. You smiled warmly at his words, not realizing that you meant at least a bit more to him than just a reason not to have a yearly ceremony.

“Well, thank you for your consideration, but I honestly like it better here than at home. I don’t have to pretend to be someone else when I go out, and damn is that nice,” you mentioned as you shifted your gaze to the nearly risen sun and sky.

“To pretend? Why would you do such a thing?” Asra questioned, looking at you quizzically.

“Well, I’ve essentially raised myself since age 13. The “foster” system in my village was more like a labor give-away for workers throughout the village, so I ran away. Well, not “away” per say, but away from the system. I found an abandoned building on what used to be the outskirts of the village and started my life there,” you explained as you gazed into the clear sky. As you shifted your vision to Asra, he looked intrigued. 

“Could you possibly tell me more about your life?” He asked a bit nervously.

“I guess, but it’s not that interesting,” you mumbled in reply.

“No, it’s really interesting! Everything about you seems to be interesting, at least in my eyes,” he mentioned smoothly.

With this, you smiled a bit and gave a slight giggle. Nobody had ever really been interested in you or your life, so this sudden onslaught of attention made you feel giddy. So of course you proceeded to tell Asra everything about you, from your favorite flowers to why you named your cat Mimi (There is no reason, that’s the catch). 

What a few months ago felt like a prison was starting to really feel like a home.


	17. Chapter 17

Months had flown by quickly, and both you and Asra became close to best friends. Close only because Mimi was number one in your heart. Maybe Asra could become a close second. It was good that they got along though; if not you may have had to get rid of Asra. 

You had found out so much about Asra, from his favorite food to his overwhelming knowledge about magical species. That last part was a bit odd, but you assumed it was just due to his upbringing and comprehensive education. 

You wouldn’t say you were uneducated, but sometimes you felt whole centuries away from acquiring as much knowledge as the smug prince contained. Although it frustrated you to no end (you *were* the smartest person you knew), it was also nice not having to explain everything you said. 

You had begun to visit Esther less and visit the library more, but you still spent a large amount of time around Esther. You hoped that maybe by being near someone like her, you could suck up some of the immense knowledge that she held. Maybe.

It was a peaceful time, just serene days and warm nights. You knew it would change in the winter, so you tried to hold onto the feeling of warmth for as long as possible.

Winters in your village were short-lived yet brutal, but you weren’t sure what they were like in Vesuvia. You hoped for a few days of snow and a good excuse to snuggle up next to the fire and sip tea, but that was the extent of it. Any more wintery weather and you would hibernate for the season. 

But winter was inevitable, and so was the future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a bit shorter, but I am going to have a really freaking long chapter soon so look forward to it!


	18. Chapter 18

The first few days of winter were quite mild, but they picked up quickly. Snow covered the ground in feet of chill and rain adorned the rooftops of houses. Opposed to all of this, you were rarely cold. The winters in Vesuvia were like child's play compared to your village. Due to this, Mimi, who was well versed in alerting of incoming trouble, found the winter in Vesuvia very peaceful. 

So when she started to throw her usual “danger is coming” fit, you just rubbed it off as uneasiness with her new surroundings. You assumed she might have just been expecting “real” winter to be coming soon and tried to get you to be ready for it. 

A few days had passed since her initial fit, but her uneasiness was still holding on stubbornly. You had asked Asra if he knew of any “incoming threats”, and he shrugged saying that Vesuvia didn’t really get threats often. And even if they did, it was dealt with immediately. You tried to calm down Mimi, but she kept insisting. 

Eventually, you started to ignore her worried cries and began to go on with your life. At first, Mimi tried even harder to get your attention. She would be with you at all hours of the day and try to convince you that there was something out there. 

When that didn’t work, she started to run away from you every time you came close to her. Although this confused you, you paid no mind to her erratic behavior.

When both of these method didn’t work, Mimi resigned to her spot in your bedroom and slept for most hours of the day. She would only get up for food, water, or the bathroom. Nothing else. This is what worried you. 

You had debated over asking Asra on his opinion on Mimi’s behavior. With all his knowledge about Faes and Witches, he must know something about cats, right? Well, turns out his knowledge about cats is about as large as his ego. That is, nonexistent. 

“Hey Asra, something weird is happening with Mimi… do you happen to know anything about cats?” You asked one day, hoping that he would have some sort of answer.

“Uhh…” he mumbled a bit, looking off into the distance to try to bring up some potential knowledge. “Yeah, no I got nothing. I know practically nothing about cats except that they are extremely cute.” He mentioned while shrugging. You had a feeling that the “cats” he was referring to was only Mimi, but you couldn’t help but agree. 

With the lack of energy that Mimi was expressing, you decided that maybe she was trying to get you to stop running yourself ragged. You had been going to Esther’s shop quite frequently, and running around in the snow wasn’t exactly the best idea when you thought about it. 

The next day, you let Esther know that you would be staying at the palace for a few days due to an “impending cold” that you felt. Whether that was true or not, Esther didn’t pick up on it. With the kindness of a grandparent and the responsibility of a business owner, she accepted with a “Thanks for letting me know, I hope you feel better!”

You resigned to your room that night with Mimi, deciding that it would be a good time to catch up on some well deserved sleep. As you were about fall asleep into a dreamless slumber, you saw a bright red flash outside your vision. It had vanished as soon at it arrived, and you resolved to it being a trick of your tired mind. Oh, how you had wished you had not done that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update?! Wild, I know. Anyways, I decided that maybe I should finally add some plot to this...dun dun dun!


	19. Chapter 19

The next morning you woke up to the screams of servants as they tried to rouse you from your slumber. “__! Wake up __!” they yelled in hopes of pulling you from your dreamland. As you slowly opened your eyes and sat up to rest your back on the headboard of your bed, you saw the frantic faces of the servants as they realized you had woken up. 

“__! We need to leave right now! There is no time!” They shouted as they hauled you out of the warmth of your blankets. As they dragged you out of the room, you barely had enough time to capture Mimi in your tight grasp as you were led (quite quickly) down the hallway to a door that you had never seen opened before. Of course, you had not seen many of the doors opened, but this door gave of a special “vibe” that could only be surmised with mystery. 

As they opened the door, it showed nothing but a winding staircase that was lit by candles placed strategically around the walls. It was light enough to see the step in front of your foot, but too dark to make out any other details of the staircase and the hall. 

They pushed you in first as they hurried behind you. After a second, a loud slam and lock startled you enough to miss the step in front of you. In any other situation, the way you managed to throw and then catch Mimi would have been comical. But no, it was terrifying to you in that moment.

With no idea of what was happening, the last thing you needed was your current sole source of warmth (as you were still in your silky nightgown) suddenly disappearing down the dark depths of your pathway. When you caught Mimi, she yelped a tad and proceeded to draw her claws into your shoulder as a sort of warning. Not of what was to  come, but of not to throw her again. You begrudgingly obliged, deciding that maybe Mimi deserved a small break from the harassment.

Not five minutes passed as you made it to the bottom of the staircase. Whatever you were expecting, it was not to be another locked door. Shifting to the side to let one of the servants unlock the door, you noticed a faint red glow from the top of the staircase. It was the same red that you saw in your assumed dream from the previous night, and it was getting brighter. As you stared at the brightening light, the servants looked up and screamed bloody murder. 

All but shoving you through the door and into the awaiting room, they quickly locked and bolted the door behind them and looked frantically around their surroundings. You looked around at your surroundings and a familiar scent proceeded to fill your vision.

It was the bread, the fresh baked bread. 

Looking around, you let your eyes fall on an open door leading to a seemingly light room. Deciding that it was most likely your best option, you made your way to the corridor and looked inside. It was indeed bread, but there was also assorted meats, fruits, and wines. It was quite a peculiar sight after your previous morning events. 

You stepped inside and your eyes landed upon the snarky tanned man standing in the corner, looking about as confused as you felt. 

“What is all of this exactly?” You questioned towards him, which caused his head to perk up and his eyes to shift to your own.

“I honestly have no idea. Where did all this food come from?” He questioned back, not expecting any answer.

“That would be thanks to the chef, my dearest.” A voice said from behind you. It seemed to be coming from the corridor you had entered from. Spinning around you saw the familiar face of the queen, smiling gently at your confusion.

“Since I assume we will have a long day” she paused, debating her next words, “few days ahead of us, I asked them to prepare something filling. Something that would suffice for a day’s only meal. It seems they have delivered quite well.” She announced, clapping her hands together at the end of her statement as to make it seem more official. 

“Why exactly are we here?” You inquired, confused at your experience of getting pulled out of bed, literally.

“Sit down first and I shall tell you little one,” She said, almost gravely yet endearingly.

As you sat down next to Asra, she leaned her elbows on the table and entwined her fingers as she leaned  forward. She seemed to be reading your expression or just looking at you, but you felt as she was reading into your mind.

“He’s back.” She stated gravely, all sense of endearment gone from her voice. You could only assume this was quite serious due to her incessant staring.

Before you could even ask who “he” was, she interrupted your thoughts by lifting a finger up to silence you prematurely.

“He has returned,” she stated leaning back onto her arms.

“Lucio has returned.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was much longer, but I'm super excited for the upcoming events! Things are about to start getting interesting!


	20. Chapter 20

As the queen proceeded to explain the situation, you grew increasingly worried. Not only was this Lucio the previous king, but he is also a ghost? You were still confused on that part, for the queen explained it as he was not alive and could phase through things yet had a tangible body? Your limited knowledge of magical beings was really becoming annoying. You really appreciated Asra’s attempt at explaining it in a way the you would understand, but it was no use. 

It had been a few days since you had arrived to what you could only assume was a formal bunker, and you were itching to see what was going outside. The queen and king had told you multiple times that it was not safe and that they had support arriving in mere days, but you didn’t essentially trust the ‘support’ they guaranteed since it was against a ghost? But nevertheless, they insisted that you stay within the quarters until the matter was resolved. 

Now, to say that you had no experience with violence would be quite a stretch. After growing up fending off multiple types of animals, magical and non-magical, from getting to your gardens, you were proud to say that you had some experience. Were you experienced enough to take on a ghost or avoid it to assess the situation? You were not sure, but nothing would stop you once your mind was set.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had decided to leave during what you would assume was night, but being underground gave you no real understanding of time. As everyone retreated to their individual chambers in the overly-complex and pretentious bunker, you had began to pack. Although, as you would admit, this was quite a stupid idea, at least you had the common sense to leave Mimi with Asra and the queen. Mimi seemed disappointed in your decision, but didn’t bother to try to stop you. 

As you came to the door that led to those confusing, curvy stairs, you tried to reproduce what Asra had done. You had said the exact same words and hand motions, yet the glowing symbol did not budge at all. After trying again multiple times, you settled to leaning against the door in defeat. He must have done some sort of magic that was significantly beyond your ability. 

You closed your eyes as you leaned your head against the dark wood, attempting to soak up any information you could from this stubborn door. Although it obviously did not work, you felt at least a bit more calm. As you almost started to doze off against the  door, you heard footsteps. Snapping your eyes open, you saw the figure standing in front of you.

“You’re probably going to need help undoing that, let me do it.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After taking a break from writing, I have a bunch of new ideas for this story!  
> I hope you guys like where I'm going to go with it and thank you for reading!


	21. Chapter 21

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I want to.”

“Why do you want to?”

His eyes moved to yours from the door, yet only his eyes moved.

“Because I do,”

Asra replied coldly, shifting his gaze back to the door. His eyes remained focused on the task at hand and never once looked back at you. This was the coldest you had ever seen Asra, and honestly you were quite surprised. When you had met him you could tell that he had a colder side, but you had not imagined that it would be this intense. 

His sudden movement pulled you out of your mind as you looked at him again. His eyes seemed no less cold, yet you could tell that there was intense determination in them. Determination for what you didn’t know, but you had a feeling that Asra and Lucio had some sort of history.

“Let’s go,” he stated, eyes moving from yours to the dark stairway. 

You proceeded to follow him up, not bothering to engage in any type of conversation for you felt it was futile. Whatever he was thinking, you would not be able to know. He had completely shut in himself and refused to think of anything other than the current task. You could feel his cold aura rubbing off on you, bringing you back to the aura you held before coming to the palace. You had a feeling that you tended to mimic the auras and personalities around you, and Asra proved it quite strongly.

Bumping into his back, you noticed not only that you were completely not paying mind to where you were, but that you had reached the door that led to the hallway in which you escaped from. Although you couldn’t see very well, you could hear him take in a deep breath before opening the door. The light almost blinded you as you stepped out. It was apparently midday and way too quiet.

“It seems that the fox has joined the party.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey lovely ladies and gents!   
> This chapter is a bit shorter, but I have two long ones (as of now) coming up so no need to worry!  
> I am currently on spring break, so I'll be writing more frequently...  
> As always, I appreciate all of you who read, comment, or interact in any way as it makes my day.  
> Thank you for reading, and have a nice time! :)


	22. Chapter 22

“Why are you here?” You heard Asra question annoyed, seemingly more inconvenienced with Lucio’s presence than scared.

“I heard our little prince found a princess and I just  _ had _ to join the party,” Lucio replied in his usual bravado.

As Asra and Lucio continued their increasingly frustrating conversation, you stepped out of the doorway from behind Asra and joined him at his side.  Both men immediately stopped their conversation as Lucio stared at you in wonder.

“Who knew that  _ this _ was the princess you found. Oh, how luck is on my side,” he exclaimed with a smirk. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it darling.” 

“What do you want Montag?” You questioned, slightly surprised that your old friend was standing before you.

“Well I originally wanted to stir up some trouble, but I suppose my plans have changed,” he replied.

“And what are those plans?” Asra interrupted as he grew increasingly frustrated at the situation.

“Oh, wouldn’t you like to know little prince,” Lucio quipped back.

Suddenly, Asra turned to you with a cold and suspicious look.

“How do you know this,” he paused as he glanced back to Lucio. “Thing?”

The look Lucio drew unto his face was almost worth laughing at. He looked so dramatically hurt, like something you would see in a soap opera. Yet sadly, the scene did not distract from the looming question. How would you explain your history with Montag? As you started to think of where to start, Lucio suddenly began to recall his story of meeting you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was dark and hot, or at least that was all you could tell from your surroundings. It might have been unbearably hot from the crowded room full of children of different ages, or maybe from the warm summer night. All you knew for sure was that it was blistering and dark. Or maybe the dark was just due to the lack of windows. Although you knew that if it was truly daytime you would be able to see the light pour out of the cracks in the old wooden walls, you still did not trust your assumption. 

Nights were when you got to sleep, yet nobody really slept at all. Most sat either trying to disconnect from reality or were curled up sobbing into their ripped clothing. The girls had to work during the day while the boys worked at night. Although they said that it was because the boys naturally had better night vision, you knew better than that. They would frequently take the older girls out of the room during the night and return them a  few hours later. Although it was dark, you could tell that they had been crying.

Even though you were 14 at the time, they had never taken you out. They usually started taking the girls out when they turned 14, but they had began grabbing girls as young as 12. It scared you, it scared everyone. 

One night, they had called your name. It rang through your ears and flew through your eyes. As you stood up on wobbly legs, you could feel the pitying looks the other girls fixated on you. Once you stood close enough to the man in the doorway, he demanded that you follow him. 

You had a hard time keeping up with his quick walking, yet he never slowed down his pace for you. Finally, he stopped in front of a doorway. Turning to you, he looked down to your eyes and seemingly scrutinized every part of your being.

“You have a choice,” he ordered. “You can either come into this room every night from now on, or you can go out every night and work with the boys. Either way, we assume your fate will be the same.” 

You were old enough to know what fate he was talking about, you had heard the stories from the other girls. You had heard the screams and cries. 

Without thinking, you quickly exclaimed “outside” as you felt the first tear of many fall down your cheeks.

“Interesting indeed, many choose to stay here. It doesn’t matter though, you had the choice. Follow me then.” The man replied sternly, spinning around to the door that led outside. As you followed him outside, he began stating your duties.

“You are to be working outside during the night and day, your sleeping time will be the during meals. You will do the same work as the other boys, whether or not you physically can. Unlike during the day, we do not supervise the boys. You are allowed to change your decision at any time, but know that it will make little to now difference. We are here, the boys are now setting up for the night. Go join them now.”

  
  


  
  


  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, me? Updating? Crazy.  
> Anyways, my summer break is finally here and I am PUMPED to write again.  
> I've started DMing (DnD bros know what I'm talking about) and I have so many ideas now!  
> I hope you ook forward to it and the (hopefully) somewhat frequent updates!


	23. Chapter 23

You had quickly discovered why so many girls had chosen to stay inside. Not only did you have to do hard manual labor, but you could practically feel the hands of the others on you at all times. It made you sick. Most of them got bored of you by the first week and waited for another victim to grace their presence. Some held on a bit longer then gave up when another girl joined. It was horrible.

There was one boy who never touched you though. A tall, blonde boy who kept to himself mostly. He was friendly enough that everyone wouldn’t gang up on him; you had seen that happen before. He was also solitary enough that if nobody talked to him, he wouldn’t talk. 

One night you had been in the forest collecting god knows what. Anything that came to your mind that would be a decent enough excuse to explore was always your best option. You frequently did just that, explored the area. Planned. Prepared.

You had been saving and stealing extra supplies and hid them on the edge of the forest. Although maybe not the most savory skill, you had become quite good at pickpocketing. It was difficult to pickpocket from the adults, they were too aware of their surroundings. But the boys were quite simple. They were so overworked and unaware of their surroundings that sneaking around and grabbing a slice of bread or a coin wasn’t too difficult. 

As you were setting your supplies in your usual spot, you sensed eyes scorching your back. You quickly turned around, preparing to fight a wolf or something, but saw nothing. You had learned early on to trust your senses rather than what was obvious, so you had stayed still and examined your surroundings. Every few seconds you would hear a rustle, then silence.

“Looks like I’ve found a wild rabbit in the forest.” The voice seemed to come from all around you, yet you saw no movement. The next second, you saw a shadow of a man step out from the trees.

As the moonlight revealed his face, you knew that you were in trouble. It was the man who gave you the choice. The choice to go outside or to stay inside. His face was graced with an evil smirk as he said the exact words you never wanted to hear.

“Come back home with me, wild rabbit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eww, yucky man...


	24. Chapter 24

As he said those words, he stepped towards you with the intimidation of a looming demon casting a shadow over your small body. It was almost debilitating.

Almost.

With a quick swipe of your hands, you had grasped a knife in your “supply kit” behind you and wielded it shakily in front of your body.

“Get back. I’m not going anywhere with you,” You demanded with a slight waver in your voice. You were most definitely scared, but you tried to show no signs. That would only show weakness. 

The man kept closing in on you while you backed into the tree behind you. Holding the knife in front of you, your hands began to shake as he closed in. 

“It seems you don’t understand your situation wild rabbit. There is nobody out here for meters,” he replied, deepening his evil grin.

While he was talking, you thought you saw a flash of red light. It was probably just a trick of the eye. The deep forest tended to have many illusions, especially in the direst of times.

“Get back, I’ll hurt you,” you demanded, swinging your knife frantically in hopes to intimidate him. In retaliation, he grasped your wrist and tightened his grip. This caused you to lose grip of the knife, dropping it to the ground. 

“Your little tricks will not dissuade me, wild rabbit. I have you just where I want you,” he whispered into your ear. At that moment, you saw the red flash again. 

Mere seconds passed and the man in front of you fell to the side lifeless. Standing behind him was none other than the blonde boy that you had seen around before.

“Grab your stuff, we need to leave now.” 

You hadn’t realized that you had been staring at the lifeless man in front of you incessantly, or at least you hadn’t realized until the boy in front of you broke your trance with his words. Immediately, you snapped your head up.

“Wait, why? Where are we going?” you questioned, looking suspiciously at the boy. Although you knew that at least he wasn’t like the other boys, you still could not trust him. 

“We’re escaping. I know the path, I was on my way anyways. If you want to stay, stay. But if you want to leave, try to keep up,” he replied, turning his head and beginning to walk away. You didn’t trust him, but you knew that he was probably your best bet.

With that, you walked away from your old fate and into a new. 

But the world was never truly that black and white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, me? Updating? Kinda crazy...

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


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